Mr Rob Penn, a renowned journalist and author who has cycled around the world traveling through over forty countries on five continents, we couldn’t have been more excited when we found out he wanted to test ride our Spencer Ivy electric bike.

As well as writing several tomes, Rob also produced his own BBC documentary that followed his world-famous book “It’s All About the Bike: the Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels”.  The book entertainingly tells the history of the bicycle, its evolution, and leads to Rob’s journey around the greatest bike parts manufacturers in the world to build his perfect bike- two of which, we are proud to use ourselves -the UK’s very own saddle makers, Brooks, and tyres from Germany’s Continental.

Having left the bike with Rob to use in between his busy filming schedule, we asked him what he thought about our Spencer electric bike-

‘Sharp looking and lovely to ride’,  Rob Penn.

Spencer Ivy Electric Bicycles is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

1 Less Car have extended their reduction on all of their multi-coloured High Viz Jackets, with sizes from tiny tots to adults, down to less than half price until the end of December.

So if you’re needing an ethical Xmas present for that cyclist who has everything, now’s the time to snap one up!

Jackets come in 5 colours –red, green yellow, pink or orange, and range from sizes to fit 3-4 year old tots carried on the back of a bike, right up to extra large. And they’re not made in a sweatshop.

To have a look, find us at www.1lesscar.org.uk or on our page at Ethical Junction.

For orders before 3.00pm , we post them the same day 1^st class.  And we can get them to you for Xmas if ordered up to Monday 21st December.

1 Less Car is an active member of Ethical Junction, learn more

The government’s decision to extend to 400,000 the number of £2,000 grants for people who trade in an old car and buy a new one is environmentally short sighted, according to the Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

The new vehicles bought under the initiative emit 25 per cent less carbon than those that are scrapped, but the ETA has calculated that the scheme will cost the government £370 per tonne of CO2 emissions avoided – the environmental cost of CO2 is widely accepted as being
nearer £80 per tonne.

Director at the ETA, Andrew Davis, said: “This is little more than a panicked way of propping up the industry as, given time, those cashing in the grants would most likely have bought the new car anyway.”

“Car scrapping initiatives are often mistakenly labelled as green because they subsidise the purchase of cars that are usually, more fuel-efficient than those they replace, but the schemes are by their nature wasteful and routinely fail to take into consideration the amount of energy required to build a vehicle in the first place.”

The AA and the RAC were pipped to the post by an ethically-run firm called the ETA that beat the household names to win Breakdown Company of the Year.

The ETA (Environmental Transport Association) was established twenty years ago as a green alternative to other motoring organisations and now employs a carbon-neutral fleet of over 7,000 recovery trucks that attends to broken down cars, vans and even bicycles around Britain.

Founder and director of the ETA, Andrew Davis, said: “Green companies need not be more expensive, but we still have to work twice as hard
to convince prospective customers that we offer a better service than our better-known rivals.”

The ETA offers a nationwide service with an average response time of 40 minutes, fixing 80 per cent of faults at the roadside.

The popular belief that without the school run traffic would always
run as freely as in the holidays is false, and far from adding to
congestion, the school run reduces it in cities according to the
Environmental Transport Association (ETA).

A spokesperson for the ETA said: “If every child started walking
to school then by next year there would be no lull in traffic levels
over the summer holidays – the extra road space would quickly be
filled by business and commuter traffic.”

Although in a perverse way the school run appears to restrict
congestion, the ETA is not campaigning for more people to drive
their kids to school; children commuting to school by car have as
much (or as little) right to travel in this way as anyone else,
but there are many environmental, health and social reasons why
children are better off walking or cycling.

The EcoVillage are to join The Construction Expo on 30th September this year with an area dedicated to sustainable construction.  The EcoVillage events bring sustainable business to mainstream audiences – this year alone we will help introduce over 130 exhibitors to an audience of over 120,000, many of whom may not have considered these products and services before. This year we have exhibited at The Kent 2020, The Kent County Show 2009 and now The Construction Expo 2009.

At The EcoVillage, there will be almost 30 exhibitor spaces available and a demonstration area, together with a conference room where there will be seminars and discussions on the latest developments in sustainable construction. 

Demonstration area sponsored by SMART
The SMART group have joined as sponsor of The EcoVillage Demonstration Area.  SMART is a founding member of the South East Sustainable Construction Operations Group which is composed of publicly funded bodies working in sustainable construction across the South East of England.  Members are working together to raise the profile of sustainable construction and to support the construction industry in a move toward a more environmentally aware way of building.

With over seven million houses are being retrofitted, and the code for sustainable homes being implemented, it is essential for construction professionals to understand sustainable materials and technologies. SMART can offer free of charge advice to any company in the construction sector based in the South East of England with fewer than 250 employees

EcoVillage Workshop Area sponsored by ERDF ZeroWise Project
The ERDF Zerowise project are supporting The EcoVillage with sponsorship of the Conference Area. The Zerowise project works in partnership with Remade South East to help construction companies reduce the amount of construction waste going to landfill. Zerowise will be running 2 workshops giving information and advice on Site Waste Management Plans, together with breakfast or lunch and networking session.To book your place on one of these sessions click here

Speakers Confirmed for EcoVillage Workshop Area
Jae Mather, Carbon Free Group
Richard Hawkes, Richard Hawkes Architecture
Andy Mitchell, Bespoke Builder Services
Patrick Kennedy Sannigar & Wayne Murray, Space Shuffle
Kevin Bush, Remade South East
Read more on our speakers sessions or book online here

Exhibitors
We still have spaces remaining in The EcoVillage – contact Amanda by email or call us on 01227 271261.  Read more

Eurostar, electric cars and Fairtrade are today identified as
among the best ethical products of the past 20 years according to a
survey of leading politicians and environmental campaigners by Ethical
Consumer Magazine.

In the survey, 20 leading politicians and environmental campaigners
were asked what was the best ethical product of the past 20 years.

In response Ben Stewart, Head of Communications at Greenpeace chose
Eurostar, Boris Johnson, Mayor of London chose electric cars whilst
Hilary Benn MP, secretary of state for the environment, chose Fairtrade.

In response Jenny Jones, Green Party member of the London Assembly
chose short-haul flights, Hilary Benn MP, secretary of state for the
environment chose Bluefin tuna, Climate Camp activists chose carbon
offset companies and Caroline Higginson from the fashion industry
campaign group Labour Behind the Label chose throwaway fashion.

WhizzGo, the pay-by-the-hour car club, is offering members of Ethical Junction a great offer this summer. With WhizzGo, you can hire a car when you need one for as little as an hour or as long as you need and with a fleet of low emission Citroens, you can be sure that by using WhizzGo you are reducing the number of cars on the road and cutting emissions and pollution in your area, as well as saving money.

Ethical Junction members and readers can now get £20 FREE drive time when they join WhizzGo. Just enter the promo code ETHICALJUNCTION09 when signing up at www.whizzgo.co.uk or give the WhizzGo team a call on 08444 77 99 66. Valid until September 2009.

And for any businesses who want to replace their current business transport with a greener option, they can take advantage of a three-month no obligation trial with WhizzGo. For more information, contact Peter Pratt on 08444 77 99 66 or email peter.pratt@whizzgo.co.uk 

Forget double glazing, triple glazing should be the new standard!

Award-winning
sustainable building products supplier Green Building Store believes
triple glazing should become the standard choice for windows and doors
in the UK to help combat climate change. Triple glazed windows are
around 30% more efficient than double glazed and can significantly
improve the energy efficiency of homes, saving money on energy bills
and reducing CO₂ emissions.

As part of Green
Building Store’s commitment to promoting ultra low energy building
design, the company has switched its own Yorkshire based Ecoplus
window production to focus on triple glazing and, from 1st June 2009,
will be making argon filled triple glazing more affordable by offering
it at the same price as double glazing¹. Currently,
buildings can lose 10-25% of their heat through windows but this can be
considerably reduced by using energy efficient glazing. Ecoplus argon
triple glazed windows have a window U value of 1.0 W/m²/K,
which is 50% better than the requirements of current building
regulations. They are also Forestry Stewardship Council certified (FSC
Pure) in redwood or oak, as well as being hand finished using natural
paints and borate based timber preservatives.

Already
commonplace in regions with colder climates, such as Scandinavia,
triple glazed windows are also popular in countries such as Germany and
Austria where low energy buildings and Passivhaus² design
are encouraged. Chris Herring, Director at the Green Building Store
said, “In order to fight climate change we urgently need to improve
energy efficiency standards in UK buildings but necessary energy saving
measures also need to be made affordable. By increasing our production
capacity and absorbing the extra costs of triple glazing we hope that
this will allow more people to consider ultra efficient windows and
doors as a viable option when designing and refurbishing buildings.”

Green
Building Store has just won a Queen’s Award for Enterprise: Sustainable
Development 2009 for providing ‘cutting edge sustainable products’ and
for its ‘pioneering approach to sustainability’. As well as making
ultra efficient timber windows and doors, the company supplies:
water-saving sanitaryware (toilets, taps, showerheads etc); Passivhaus
products (windows, ventilation, airtightness products etc); and natural
building materials (sheep’s wool insulation, natural paints and
finishes etc). For more information, go to www.greenbuildingstore.co.uk or ring 01484 461705.

Cyclists who break down are now able to call out a recovery lorry in much the same way as car drivers use the AA.

The Cycle Rescue service is included for free with a new type of cycle insurance launched this week by ilovemybike.co.uk in time for National Bike Week (13-20 June).

Director at ilovemybike.co.uk, Andrew Davis said: “Motorists get all manner of extras thrown in for free when they buy insurance – the service for cyclists should not be any different.”

A poll conducted on behalf of ilovemybike.co.uk ahead of Bike Week found that over 4 million British motorists would be prepared to cycle more to cut their motoring costs.

5 reasons to cycle:

1. Bicycles can be very cheap to buy, they don’t need an MOT or fuel and can be parked almost anywhere for free.

2. Cycling is a low-impact activity, which means it doesn’t put a strain on your joints. It’s cheaper than the gym, too.

3. 75% of all personal journeys are less than 5 miles long – that’s half an hour on a bike.

4. Cycling helps to reduce noise and air pollution as well as traffic congestion

5. It makes you feel young